Inga Machel, born in 1986, lives and works in Berlin. She studied Creative Writing and Cultural Journalism at the University of Hildesheim (2005–2010), and has since cultivated a multifaceted career as a freelance radio author (RBB), editor (Aufbau Verlag, Suhrkamp Verlag), and copywriter. Since 2022, she has also been practicing as a certified naturopath for psychotherapy.
Her literary voice first gained wider recognition with the short story Lieber A. (Dear A.), which won the New German Fiction Prize and was subsequently published by Matthes & Seitz as an e-book. The English translation by Donal McLaughlin appeared with Readux Books. She later published Being with Paul through Tegel Media. Her debut novel Auf den Gleisen (On the Tracks) was released by Rowohlt in January 2024, earning a place on the SWR bestseller list shortly after publication and securing a nomination for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize.
Machel’s writing consistently foregrounds the lives of those on the margins of society. She is particularly drawn to Icelandic literature, which she regards as rich in narratives of antiheroes, from the 13th-century sagas to the contemporary works of authors such as Einar Kárason and Einar Már Gudmundsson. In this tradition, she envisions her stay in Iceland as an opportunity to engage with individuals whose stories are seldom told—whether a fisherman's wife in Bakkafjörður or a homeless person navigating addiction in Reykjavík. Her aim is twofold: to immerse herself in Icelandic literary traditions and to explore narrative strategies for portraying lives shaped by precarity and resilience. This research will inform a new, ambitious prose project, a tripartite novel with the working title Harte Strandparty (Hard Beach Party), which seeks to examine the conditions of human survival through the lens of three distinct antiheroes.
